Administration Imposes Sweeping Limits on Federal Actions Against Companies

The following article by Robert Pear was posted on the New York Times website February 10, 2018:

The new policy, issued by Rachel L. Brand, the No. 3 official at the Justice Department, is significant because federal agencies have issued guidance documents on a range of laws covering issues like health care and labor. Credit Aaron P. Bernstein/Reuters

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has adopted new limits on the use of “guidance documents” that federal agencies have issued on almost every conceivable subject, an action that could have sweeping implications for the government’s ability to sue companies accused of violations.

Guidance documents offer the government’s interpretation of laws, and often when individuals or companies face accusations of legal violations, what they have really violated are the guidance documents. Defense lawyers say the change in policy gives them a powerful tool to fend off allegations of wrongdoing against their clients. Continue reading “Administration Imposes Sweeping Limits on Federal Actions Against Companies”